Most of our listeners are not in the kind of church that culturally and theological demeans, abuses and restricts girls and women. Therefore, it is easy for us to detach ourselves from the type of congregational contexts we’ve seen uncovered through the work of scholars such as Beth Allison Barr and Kristen Kobes Du Mez. … Continue reading
As Cooperative Baptists, we know that there is a disparity among men and women pastors within many church traditions. Not only is the gender balance off, but the pay is even more inequitable. What can churches do about this? How can we begin to develop a more equitable culture through spiritual formation? This week’s episode … Continue reading
Serving as the senior pastor of several different churches, along with a few associate roles, I have had my fair share of deacons, and congregational leaders question my decisions and leadership. I fondly remember having a chair of the deacons berate me in front of a Fellowship Hall of members on a Wednesday night because … Continue reading
I can just close my eyes and remember church business meetings of my childhood, in which the idea of women becoming deacons was shot down as some angry middle-aged man, who clearly had control issues, reading passages from the writings of the Apostle Paul on why women should remain silent, not teach, and certainly submit … Continue reading
By JJ Dickinson This semester for the midterm in my Baptist class, I wrote a children’s book about important women of the Baptist faith. Some of them, like Anne Hutchinson and Beth Moore, I knew a lot about. Others, like Martha Stearns Marshall, I had never heard of before. Each woman played an important role … Continue reading
By Laura Stephens-Reed During a gathering of my field education cohort during seminary, the leaders facilitated a discussion about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. For most people in the room, communion was about welcome, nourishment, and grace. I had a different take. In the church of my youth, we had the Lord’s Supper once … Continue reading
By Sara Crocker One of the most meaningful and formational skills I’ve learned in my seminary experience at Central Baptist Theological Seminary thus far is how to read and interpret the ancient Scriptures from various perspectives and social locations. Recently, my New Testament professor, Dr. David May asked us to read Hisako Kinukawa’s exegesis of … Continue reading
By Joya Moore I have been thinking deeply about the experience of women in America since the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. I honestly had not anticipated a woman occupying the Vice Presidential office for a long time, so to watch her take the oath and experience the ways in … Continue reading
By Aaron Weaver DECATUR, Ga. — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Thriving in Ministry Initiative is now accepting applications for the second set of cohort groups This four-year initiative, which is funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, aims to address challenges that pastors face in their congregational settings. Participants will build their capacity to … Continue reading
By Ashleigh Bugg Georgetown Baptist Church in Georgetown, Kentucky, commemorated their 30th anniversary of ordaining women deacons. The month-long celebration featured various events including a service officiated by the Rev. Heather Burke on November 11. They honored Maribeth Hambrick, one of the first women elected as a deacon in the church, at Windsor Gardens, an assisted living … Continue reading